It is not the facts which guide the conduct of our Cabinet Ministers in
New Delhi, but their preconceived opinions about facts, which may be
entirely wrong. We as helpless citizens can only endeavor to make them
right by bringing them up for open public debate and discussion. If there
is a Union Cabinet Minister who blatantly avoids solid facts like fire or
runs away from facts or hides vital facts from public view regardless of
costs and consequences to the Nation and its Exchequer, it is the Union
Shipping and Transport Minister, T R Baalu. His official contempt for our
Prime Minister, running counter to and cutting at the root of the very
basis of Cabinet System of Government, is now not only a matter of common
knowledge but common public joke, throughout the country. In so far as the
Setusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) is concerned, T R Baalu
believes in manufacturing his own ""Periyar-Keemayana"" fiction everyday
which runs counter to all the known scientific facts assiduously collected
and documented by several scientific and technical Bodies/ Departments of
the Government of India.

It is a national tragedy that under the UPA Government"s unwritten working
commandment, the good Ministers have no command and the wicked and corrupt
ones have full and unrestrained command. That is the only unfortunate
though reasonable inference that the mute millions of India can draw about
the shoddy way in which the SSCP has been drawn up and is being
implemented with undue haste in gross violation of the Due Process of Law
and Procedure enjoined upon the Government of India under various
mandatory provisions of the Constitution.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797), one of the greatest political philosophers of
all time rightly said: ""Facts are to the mind what food is to the body.
On the due digestion of the former depend the strength and wisdom of the
one, just as vigor and health depend on the other. The wisest in Council,
the ablest in debate in the House of Commons and the most successful
public leader in a nation"s polity, is the man who has assimilated to his
full understanding the greatest number of relevant and accurate facts"".

But to Union Shipping and Transport Minister T R Baalu such facts are his
sworn enemies to be avoided or at any rate killed at any cost like house
flies using the seals of his transitory public office. Moreover he has an
unconcealed contempt for scientific facts and men of science. He refuses
to see or acknowledge that scientific facts, combined with practical
ideas, constitute the greatest force in the world. T R Baalu has failed to
understand that facts not frankly faced have a habit of stabbing us in the
back. As Winston Churchill declared: ""Get the facts, or the facts will
get you. And when you get"em, get"em right, or they will get you wrong"".
T R Baalu has landed himself in such an unenviable and difficult situation
today. All mature Ministers in all civilized countries set this working
motto before themselves: ""Let us keep our mouths shut and pens dry until
we know the facts"". T R Baalu has no faith in such a pragmatic
philosophy. Further a responsible Cabinet Minister should understand that
facts mean nothing unless they are rightly understood, rightly related and
rightly interpreted. Such an attitude is wholly anathema to T R Baalu. For
him facts mean nothing. They must be cleverly avoided or wrongly
understood, wrongly related and mischievously interpreted. This has been
his policy at every stage during the implementation of the Setusamudram
Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) ever since its inception in 2004.

Taking full note of the above murky general background, Dandi Swami Sri
Vidyananda Bharati filed a Writ Petition (No. 272 of 2007) in the Supreme
Court of India, fully fortified and documented with scientific facts and
figures, invoking the Original Jurisdiction of Article 32 of the
Constitution of India as a Public Interest litigation on behalf of the
citizens of India, in particular of the States of Tamilnadu and Kerala,
seeking protection of the fundamental rights contained in Articles 14, 19,
21 and 25 of the Constitution of India and praying for orders against the
implementation of the Setusamudram Shipping Canal Project (The
""Project"").

The Supreme Court in its order dated 29 May 2007 advised the petitioner to
approach the appropriate authorities in the Government of India and the
concerned State Government for specific relief from the relevant
Departments in regard to the specific scientific/ administrative issues
raised before the Supreme Court of India. Accordingly Dandi Swami Sri
Vidyananda Bharati has filed the DEMAND NOTICE PETITION with the President
of India, Prime Minister"s office, Ministry of Environment and Forests,
Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of
Defense, Ministry of Shipping, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Earth
Sciences in the Government of India in New Delhi and also the State of
Tamilnadu through its Chief Secretary and the Department of Environment
and Forests, Government of Tamilnadu. In his Demand Petition, he has
demanded that these public authorities should give him a reply on the
points raised by him within three weeks as indicated by the Supreme Court
of India.

I would like to summarize the vital and cardinal scientific issues and
points raised by Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati in his DEMAND NOTICE
PETITIONS referred to above in the larger public interest of the pursuit
of truth, information and enlightenment. The pseudo-secular media, daily
reveling only in dishing out drivel, duplicity and demeaning programmes on
account of their known secular fervour and unrequited infatuation for
Sonia led UPA Government, would go to the end of the world to choke all
the avenues of public information or sources of truth relating to the
vital public issues affecting the larger national interest raised in the
Demand Notice Petition presented by Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati.

In his Demand Notice Petition, immediate redressal has been sought from
various public authorities both in the government of India and the
Government of Tamilnadu in regard to the following issues / points:

A) The ""Project"" has been conceptualized without taking into account the
likelihood of a Tsunami or its disastrous effects in a slip-shod manner
that is arbitrary and unreasonable, violating the fundamental right to
equality under Article 14 and the right to life and personal liberty under
Article 21 of the Constitution. Neither the Environment Impact Assessment
(EIA) report by NEERI completed in May / August 2004 nor the DPR by L&T /
Ramboll for the Project completed in February 2005 have taken into account
the likelihood or effects of a Tsunami, despite the massive destruction
caused by the Tsunami which hit the coast line of South India on 26
December, 2004. Prof. Tad S Murthy, a world renowned Tsunami Expert and a
former Editor of a prestigious scientific and technical Journal called
"Tsunami Effects Review" has categorically warned that the proposed
alignment of the mid-ocean channel under the ""Project"" is such that it
will so funnel and amplify the wave from a Tsunami from south east Asia as
to cause massive destruction of life and property in areas on the coast
line of Kerala and Tamilnadu. The relevant and timely warning given by
Prof. Tad S Murthy has been ignored with dictatorial impunity by T R Balu
and his officers.

B) Established and well known precautionary principles that should govern
any environmental clearance have not been weighed and analysed by the
Ministry of Environment in the Government of India while giving
environmental clearance for the ""Project"" under the Environmental
(Protection) Act, 1986. The Ministry of Environment has completely ignored
the following instructions laid down by the Supreme Court off India in
Vellore Citizens" Welfare Forum versus Union of India (1996) 5 SCC 647
(page 658): ""Where there are threats of serious and irreversible damage,
lack of scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing
measures to prevent environmental degradation"". Despite the fact that
there is a serious likelihood of danger to the unique habitat and the
ecosystem of the Gulf of Mannar arising from dredging and dumping of
material from / on the ocean floor to widen the channel to 300 metres wide
and 12 metres deep under the ""Project"", the public authorities put in
charge of the ""Project"" are blindly going ahead with the process of
construction of the channel without considering the possible disastrous
outcome of serious environmental degradation. The endangered species in
the Gulf of Mannar region include the Dugong (Sea Cow), Sea Horses, five
Species of Marine Turtles and Whales and Dolphins. Eminent Marine
Biologists have confirmed that in this region there is also a unique link
species between Vertebrates and Invertebrates called Balano-Glossus that
is unique to the Mannar region. These species thrive in the endangered
habitats consisting of mangrove forests and sea grasses surrounding the
cluster of Islands on the Southern coast of Tamilnadu which have been
declared as a National Park under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.

I am sorry to have to say that I cannot too often repeat that DEMOCRACY in
India is a word the real gist of which still sleeps, quite unawakened like
a sleeping giant, notwithstanding the resonance and the many angry
tempests out of which its syllables have come during the last 125 years,
from pen to tongue. For me, as an insignificant and unnoticed freelance
journalist, Democracy is a great word, whose glorious history, I suppose,
remains untold and unwritten because that history has yet to be enacted.

Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati has declared in his Demand Notice
Petitions to the Government of India and the Government of Tamilnadu
arising out of the orders of the Supreme Court dated 29 May 2007 on the
Writ Petition (No. 272 of 2007) filed by him before the Supreme Court,
that he is spiritually guided by GURUJI Jagadguru Shankaracharya of
Jyotishpeeth and Dwarka Sharadapeeth Pujyapad Sri Swarupananda
Saraswati-ji Maharaja, and that he belongs to no political party or
organization, and that his Writ Petition has been presented to the Supreme
Court only and exclusively for the benefit of the masses, which he views
as his paramount, sacred, and Fundamental Duty cast upon him by the
Constitution of India under Article 51a(g) and 51a(h) of the Indian
Constitution.
In this context all the Hindus of India whole heartedly welcome the heroic
statement made and ultimatum given to the following effect to the
Government of India by DWARAKA PEETH"S SHANKARACHARYA SWAMI SWAROOPANAND
SARASWATI on the overriding public need for the protection of RAM SETU at
Narsinghpur, Madhya Pradesh on 7 June, 2007.

“We hereby warn the Government of India that we would launch a massive and
unprecedented National agitation from Himalayas to Kanyakumari and from
the Rann of Katch to the Bay of Bengal if the decision of the Government
of India to demolish and destroy the Ram Setu off Rameshwaram coast is not
withdrawn forthwith or at any rate withdrawn within a period of two weeks.
The Government of India"s callous, cruel, contemptuous and adamant
attitude in regard to the matter of Ram Setu is compelling all the people
of India, who have faith in our ancient Indian culture, to adopt harsh
means to ensure the protection of Ram Setu. By its own policies, divorced
from ground level realities, Government of India have created a situation
today wherein only those who resort to violent means are heard while those
who follow the non-violent path of Mahatma Gandhi are ignored. This is not
good for the survival of our democracy.

Now to turn to the case of Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati relating to
Ram Setu, In his Demand Petition presented to the Ministry of Environment
and Forests in the Government of India and also to the Department of
Environment and Forests in the Government of Tamilnadu, Sri Vidyananda
Bharati has invited their specific and focused attention to the fact that
the UNESCO has declared the Gulf of Mannar as a protected Biosphere.
Taking note of this, both the Government of India and the Government of
Tamilnadu have confirmed this declaration of a Biosphere Reserve for the
Purposes of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.

In view of this, the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve is entitled to the
statutory protections contemplated by Chapter IV of the Wildlife
Protection Act, 1972. No permit / permission for activities destructive of
wildlife such as those inherent in the Ram Setu PROJECT may be granted
except in order to protect wildlife.

Further, the PROJECT involves not only dredging over many square
kilometers of the ocean floor but also controlled blasting in the Palk
Straits and Gulf of Mannar, which will endanger the flora and fauna of
Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve declared by UNESCO to be one of the most
important biodiversity hotspots in Asia and declared as such by the
Government of India and the State of Tamilnadu. The Gulf of Mannar is home
to a number of endangered species such as the dugong (sea cow), the sea
horse, sea turtles, whales and dolphins and to endangered habitats such as
coral reefs, mangrove forests and sea-grasses that support the species
named above. Apart from such serious violations of the Wildlife Protection
Act, 1972, the environmental clearances for the Project under the
Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, have been granted in complete
violation of statutory provisions and without taking into account the
protective actions recommended by the National Environmental Engineering
Research Institute, a Central Government Agency (NEERI), in its
Environmental Impact Assessment Report (The EIA Report).

It is very vital to note that the PROJECT also involves cutting through
the Ram Setu barrier in Palk Straits (situated south east of Rameshwaram
near Pamban and connects Talaimanar coast of Sri Lanka) which is believed
to be man made according to highly reputed marine archaeologists,
geologists and earth scientists, with its origins stretching back into
pre-historic antiquity. No investigation has yet been done to determine
whether the Rama Setu structure is eligible and deserving of statutory
protection as an ancient monument or an archaeological site under the
Ancient Monuments Act, 1958.

There is considerable scientific evidence available to the effect that the
Rama Setu Bridge is man-made. NEERI which was mandated to examine this
issue under the existing guidelines of the Ministry of Environment and
forests, for unstated and inexplicably mysterious reasons, simply
proceeded on the basis that the Ram Setu is not man made. Article 51 A (f)
of the Constitution enjoins protection of the cultural heritage of India.
Therefore it is the bounden duty and responsibility of the Archeological
Survey of India (ASI) to undertake an immediate survey to determine under
the Ancient Monuments Act, 1958 as to whether or not the Ram Setu is man
made. Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati in his Demand Notice Petition to
the Ministry of Culture has demanded that the Ministry of Culture should
immediately order the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to undertake an
immediate Survey in this regard. As there is adequate scientific,
historic, cartographic, epigraphic, numismatic and literary evidence to
prove the existence of Ram Setu for countless centuries, it would be
proper for the Government of India in the Union Ministry of Culture to
request the Union Ministry of Shipping to stop further progress under the
�PROJECT� before it destroys Ram Setu forever and to direct the
Archeological Survey of India (ASI) as an ancient national monument
qualifying for permanent statutory protection under the Ancient Monuments
Act, 1958.

Further, the environmental clearance given by the Union Ministry for
Environment and Forests dated 31.03.2005 was totally vitiated on account
of its arbitrariness and non-application of mind. One of the most
important environmental aspects of the project is the problem of
disposal/dumping of the dredged material. The NEERI study report
highlighted the fact that dredging would lead to increase in turbidity
(i.e., suspended matter in the ocean) at, and in the vicinity of, the
site; thereby preventing penetration of sunlight into the water body,
which would endanger the survival of marine flora and fauna at and around
the site. For these reasons, quick and efficient removal of the dredged
material was considered as critical by NEERI. Further, NEERI suggested
that the disposal of the dredged material would have to be done in a
manner that minimized the likelihood of any adverse impact at the disposal
site. On detailed examination and analysis, the EIA study by NEERI
recommended that disposal would have to take place both on land, as well
as at sea; the clay and silt to be disposed off/dumped on land or to be
used to help reclaim land near Pumban island, and the sand to be dumped at
suitable sites in the sea, at least 20-25 kilometres from the Gulf of
Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve.

The NEERI Study Report also recommended that the �Project� be implemented
in two phases; the first phase involving dredging the channel upto 10m
depth, and the depth being increased to 12m in the second phase only after
observing and analysing the environmental impact of the first phase. The
NEERI report itself added a word of caution, stating that �the route would
become environmentally viable only if the management plans and recommended
measures proposed by NEERI are strictly followed

This above note of caution given by NEERI has been totally disregarded and
ignored by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests while giving its
environment clearance on 31.03.2005. Firstly, the recommendation made by
NEERI regarding the implementation of the ""PROJECT"" in two phases does
not seem to have been considered by the Union Ministry of Environment and
Forests (MOEF) at all. Secondly the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF),
in its clearance dated 31 March, 2005, while laying down a specific
condition that �the Environment Management Plan recommended by NEERI
should be implemented"" (Specific Condition "xix"), has, at the same time,
categorically prescribed that the ""dredged material will be disposed off
in the identified sites in the sea"", and that �no dredged material will
be disposed off on land� (specific condition "I"). This is in clear
conflict with the recommendations of NEERI, as well as the Environment
Management Plan prepared by it. Clearly, despite the caution sounded by
the NEERI itself, this condition laid down in the environmental clearance
would itself render the project environmentally non-viable. No reason,
much less a detailed or a satisfactory one, has been given by the Ministry
of Environment and Forests (MOEF) for this operational departure from the
NEERI"s recommendations; showing the total non-application of mind by the
MOEF.

Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati in his Demand Notice Petition has
invited the attention of the Government of India to the fact that the
enormous religious sentiment of the Hindus of India with respect to Ram
Setu, sacredly viewed as a creation of Lord Rama and his Vanara army led
by Lord Hanuman, has also been intentionally disregarded with supreme
contempt by the Government of India at the highest level in general and
the Union Ministries of Culture, Environment and Forests and Shipping and
Transport of the Government of India in particular. This clearly raises
issues under Articles 25 and 26 of the Indian Constitution relating to
Freedom of Religious Conscience and Freedom to Manage Religious affairs.

Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati in his Demand Notice Petition to the
Government of India and the Government of Tamilnadu has highlighted the
following vital "Environmental" and other connected issues which have been
totally ignored or overlooked by the Government of India and the
Government of Tamilnadu while giving their final clearance to the
Setusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP). Government of India and the
Government of Tamilnadu will be putting our whole nation in a state of
mortal peril if they choose to ignore the grave and timely warning signals
given by Sri Vidyananda Bharati, wholly based on rigorously analysed and
scientifically and technically valid points and arguments adduced by him,
in his Demand Notice Petition.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) in the Government of India
while giving its environmental clearance on 31 May, 2005 displayed a total
non-application of mind as is evident from the fact that issues regarding
unplanned and uncontrolled "ingress" of alien species of flora and fauna
into the Gulf of Mannar, as well as the Palk Bay, Indian Ocean and Bay of
Bengal, consequent upon the digging of the Setusamudram Canal, have been
completely overlooked by the MOEF. India became a signatory to the UN
CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY that was adopted at the Earth Summit in
Rio de Janeiro in 1992. This Convention set before itself the following
three main goals:

1. Conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity);
2. Sustainable use of its components; and
3. Fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.
In other words, its objective is to develop national strategies for the
conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. This UN
Convention Document has been viewed as the key document regarding
sustainable development.
Article 8 of the UN Convention Document clearly sets out the measures to
be taken and policies to be adopted for In-situ Conservation. Article 8 of
the Convention states as follows:
Each Contracting Party shall, as far as possible and as appropriate:
(a) Establish a system of protected areas or areas where special measures
need to be taken to conserve biological diversity;
(b) Develop, where necessary, guidelines for the selection, establishment
and management of protected areas or areas where special measures need to
be taken to conserve biological diversity;
(c) Regulate or manage biological resources important for the conservation
of biological diversity whether within or outside protected areas, with a
view to ensuring their conservation and sustainable use;
(d) Promote the protection of ecosystems, natural habitats and the
maintenance of viable populations of species in natural surroundings;
(e) Promote environmentally sound and sustainable development in areas
adjacent to protected areas with a view to furthering protection of these
areas;
(f) Rehabilitate and restore degraded ecosystems and promote the recovery
of threatened species, inter alia, through the development and
implementation of plans or other management strategies;
(g) Establish or maintain means to regulate, manage or control the risks
associated with the use and release of living modified organisms resulting
from biotechnology which are likely to have adverse environmental impacts
that could affect the conservation and sustainable use of biological
diversity, taking also into account the risks to human health;
(h) PREVENT THE INTRODUCTION OF, CONTROL OR ERADICATE THOSE ALIEN SPECIES
WHICH THREATEN ECOSYSTEMS, HABITATS OR SPECIES;
Despite the fact that India became a signatory to the UN CONVENTION ON
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY as early as in 1992, the Ministry of Environment and
Forests (MOEF), for reasons best known only to itself, blatantly ignored
Article 8 of this UN Convention in general and more particularly Article 8
(h) detailed above while giving its environmental clearance to the
Setusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) on 3, March, 2005. I can only
draw the simple and straightforward inference that the MOEF is more
committed to the petty political (Both Regional and National!!) and
commercial ambitions (!!!) of T R Baalu than to the overriding cause of
protection of the natural environment in the Bay of Bengal, Gulf of Mannar
and the Indian Ocean. For MOEF the "protection" (!) of T R Baalu seems to
be overridingly fundamental and the protection of the environment casually
incidental!!
NEERI in its study report, while accepting the richness in Biodiversity of
the Gulf of Mannar, had specifically referred to the grave risk of
introduction of alien species into this pristine and unique habitat in the
following words:

“The Channel will facilitate the movement of fish and other biota from the
Bay of Bengal to the Indian Ocean and vice versa. By this way, the entry
of oceanic and alien species into the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar, as
also the dispersal of endemic species outside the Palk Bay and the Gulf of
Mannar could occur.”

“Excavation of the channel in the Adams Bridge sector would provide a
deeper passage in the sector, which is shallow at present, and serves only
as a barrier. Underwater currents play a significant role, not only in the
transportation of large marine organisms, plankton biota, fish eggs and
larvae but also on shore dynamics, especially of the islands, reef and
paars. Strong current would erode the banks of the canal and carry the
sediments from one sector to another, which ultimately results in
accretion of sand in one sector and erosion in another sector. ONCE THE
CANAL IS DEEPENED, THE PASSAGE WOULD GREATLY INCREASE THE MOVEMENT OF
FISHES AND OTHER LARGE ANIMALS FROM BAY OF BENGAL TO INDIAN OCEAN AND VICE
VERSA. Hence, the entry of oceanic and alien species into Palk Bay and
Gulf of Mannar and also dispersal of endemic species outside Palk Bay and
Gulf of Mannar would be facilitated.”

This dangerous aspect highlighted by NEERI has not been adverted to at all
in the environmental clearance given by the Ministry of Environment and
Forests (MOEF) on 31March, 2005. Thus the MOEF has thrown overboard
Article 8 (h) of the UN Convention referred to above. No steps have been
prescribed to cater to this inevitable eventuality and its impact on the
local marine population. The argument that some water from the Bay of
Bengal enters Palk Bay and has always flown over the Ram Setu even before
the Project is no answer because the mid-ocean channel envisaged under the
Project would be 12 metres deep and 300 metres wide. Such a deep, wide
channel will permit a much greater range of sea-going species to pass
through into the Gulf of Mannar, which until now has offered a relatively
sheltered habitat for numerous endangered species. Such uncontrolled
migration will certainly lead to the extinction of numerous species.

In its Environmental Impact Study (EIS) NEERI itself had predicated,
without any valid or relevant or established scientific basis, on the
absence of cyclones and other severe weather conditions on the Bay of
Bengal. This was a strange, wrong, unfounded and untenable assumption. The
known and established fact is we have had numerous cyclones in the SSCP
region at periodical intervals during the last 200 years. In view of this,
the NEERI"s study itself was fundamentally flawed. No environmental
clearance could have been or should have been granted based on NEERI"s
study if this total absence of cyclones in the region was the underlying
assumption of the whole exercise.

Further the NEERI in its EIA Study Report had specifically stated that
"dredging may also require blasting if hard strata are encountered and in
the event of such blasting, adverse impact on sea bottom fauna is
envisaged". This crucial aspect, emphasized by NEERI above, found no
mention at all in the environmental clearance given by the Ministry of
Environment and Forests (MOEF) dated 31.03.2005.
Since the environmental clearance given by the Ministry of Environment and
Forests (MOEF) on 31 March, 2005 does not advert to the possibility of
blasting at all, it does not prescribe any safeguards or conditions in
this respect. Taking note of all these factors, Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda
Bharati in his Demand Notice Petition has come to the right conclusion:
"In the respectful submission of the petitioners, a reading of the
environmental clearance shows that it does not prescribe specific,
concrete and tangible measures/safeguards regarding environmental and
ecological protection, but merely pays lip service, as it were, by setting
out vague and generalized conditions, such as the following:

"Strict monitoring should be undertaken at four hourly interval round the
clock to monitor the movement of sediments of dredged material in the
dredging area and daily on the coast and other sensitive areas of Gulf of
Mannar Biosphere/National Marine Park".

"Effective monitoring of aquatic ecosystem may be done to ensure that no
damage is done to the turtles, dugongs, flora and other endangered
species".

"Such vague and general conditions, which are basically unenforceable, are
not what is expected of a body such as the Ministry of Environment and
Forests (MOEF) which is charged with protecting the environment under the
Environment Protection Act."

Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati in his Demand Notice Petition to the
Government of India has indeed spoken on behalf of all the shattered and
battered Hindus of India. He has given this message to the Government:
"The sacred and immemorial rights of all the Hindus of India are not to be
rummaged for among old parchments or musty Government records. They are
written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of Hindu human nature
right from the dawn of Human History, by the hand of the Divinity itself
rooted in Sanathana Dharma which mocks at TIME and remains unaltered and
imperishable, can never get erased or obscured or cast aside by any petty
dictatorial Government or pernicious mortal political power dressed in
brief authority for a moment".
T R Baalu as Union Shipping and Transport Minister, like the Indian
monsoon, has shown all the vagaries of an oriental potentate in dealing
with the different aspects / stages / phases of the Setusamudram Shipping
Canal Project (SSCP), "commercially viable" (from his private point of
view!!) and disastrous for the nation as a whole in every sense of the
term. This has been eloquently brought out by Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda
Bharati in his Demand Notice Petition has stated that "the EIA study
conducted by the NEERI also does not comply with the requirements of the
EIA Manual, which represents the policy of the Union Ministry of
Environment and Forests". The EIA study conducted by NEERI does not
conform to the prescribed requirements of the EIA Manual with regard,
inter alias, to the following respects:

A) The option of how the environment would fare if there were no "SSCP"
"Project" was mandatorily required to be considered under the EIA Manual
as a fundamental analytical tool and premise for determining whether the
environmental clearance should be granted to the "Project". This aspect
was not considered at all by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF)
while giving its hasty "Political Clearance" under severe DMK pressure,
conveniently resorting to the subterfuge of the so called "handle" of
according environmental clearance to the SSCP on 31-03-2005.

B) While according its political environmental clearance on 31-03-2005, no
assessment was made by the MOEF of the impact of the "Project" on
significant historical, cultural and archeological sites/places in the
area, which is mandated under the EIA Manual. A reading of the EIA Study
Report does not disclose any study having been conducted by the NEERI in
this behalf, with the aid and assistance of experts in the relevant
fields.

There is considerable evidence to show that the Ram Setu is man- made. A
Report of the Department of Earth Sciences states as follows:

"During the glacial Maxima, the sea level was about 130 m lower than what
is today. This is evidenced both on the east and west coast of India,
where submerged Corals occur around 1 to 2m water depths and they are
clear indicators of near coastal zone� However, during the last ice age
(18,000 year BP) the entire area from India to Sri Lanka and further south
and southeast were contagious land due to the highly lowered sea level. As
and when there were major melting of glaciers both from the mountains as
well as from the Antarctic area, the sea level was rising. These features
were well recorded and studied by several submerged Coral formations all
over the world. About 7,300 years BP the sea level in the southern part of
India was about 3.5 m above the present level. This has been deciphered by
Dr P K Banerjee, who studied Corals that were found in the land part of
Pamban, Rameswaram, and Tuticorin etc. Subsequently the sea level went
down and rose +2m above than what is today between 5000 to 4000 years B.P.
In almost of all the boreholes between 4.5 and 7.5m the borehole
intersected hard formations, which have been found to be calcareous sand
stones and corals. It is to be pointed out here that Corals are
comparatively less dense, compact and somewhat easy to carry. The Corals
normally grow atop compact to hard formations for the purpose of
stability, and as the sea level rises, the Coral colony grows up
vertically to maintain water depth of 1 to 2 m, which is essential for
their survival. It is always observed that these Corals have continuous
vertical growth like Lakshadweep, Andaman"s, and Gulf Of Mannar Natural
Park. These have always been found to grow on hard rock bottom. IN THE
CASE OF ADAMS BRIDGE AREA WE OBSERVE THAT THE CORAL FORMATIONS HARDLY
OCCUR 1 TO 2.5M IN LENGTH AND RESTING ON LOOSE MARINE SANDS. MOST OF THESE
CORAL ROCK PIECES ARE SEEM TO BE ROUNDED PEBBLES OF CORALS. THESE THINGS
APPEAR TO POINT THESE CORAL ROCK PIECES AND PEBBLES HAVE BEEN TRANSPORTED
AND PLACED IN THESE AREAS." Source: Dept. of Earth Sciences, Govt of India
(March 2007).

Another brilliant Earth Scientist has also clearly brought out the fact
that the Ram Setu is a man-made bridge. In a brilliant essay titled
"Geological and Geophysical Perspective", Dr S Badri Narayanan, formerly
Joint Director of the Geological Survey of India has concluded on the
geological surface in the Ram Setu area (Adam"s Bridge area) as follows:
"It is a well known fact that the Coral reefs can only form in clean and
unpolluted water and these being marine organisms require firm and compact
formation as foundation. The presence of loose marine sand below these
clearly indicates that these are not natural and are transported from
elsewhere. Unless somebody has transported and dumped them, these could
have not come there. Some of the boulders are so light that they could
float on water. Apparently whoever has done it has identified it as light
and strong boulders to make it easy for transportation. Since the boulders
are strong, they can withstand lot of weight...The Adam"s Bridge is a
wonderful divide separating the turbulent Bay of Bengal in the North and
the calm and tranquil waters of the Gulf of Mannar to the South. Due to
the tranquil condition, very rare species of Corals and other organisms
grew in the Gulf of Mannar, whereas such species are completely absent in
the Bay of Bengal side. The turbulent tide and the associated sediments
caused by the severe cyclone that occur every year in the Bay of Bengal
are prevented by the ridge of the Ram Setu or Adam"s Bridge and thereby
protect the delicate conditions in the Gulf of Mannar".

Thus Dr Badrinarayanan has categorically warned that the dredging and
opening of the Ram Setu Bridge (Adam"s Bridge) may cause the sediments and
turbulent tide from the Bay of Bengal to enter the tranquil Gulf of Mannar
and choke and destroy the delicate Coral island. In short, he has clearly
stated that the SSCP should not cut across the Ram Setu Bridge.

T R Baalu and Chairman Tuticorin Port Trust have callously disregarded the
sound technical advice given by the Department of Earth Sciences,
Government of India and Dr. Badrinarayanan. For global Dravidian leaders
like T R Baalu, the "rational" "KEEMAYANA" condensed in the inspiring
words of Periyar in Tamil with Non-Aryan fervour as given below are more
relevant than any superstitious scientific and technical advice given by
the Anti-South and Anti-Tamil Departments of the Government of India:

I am giving a translation of the above words of wisdom of Periyar"s
Keemayana. "If there is a fire noticed in a lake, and if any fool wants to
put out that fire by giving his advice to the effect that the best way to
put out that fire is by spraying water upon it, drawn from a small well
near by such is the inappropriate message of foolish falsehood in the
Valmiki Ramayana".Periyar

Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati has not allowed himself to be seduced
or misled by the underlying bestial spirit or spirit (less ness!!) of
kinetic "Keemayana". In his Demand Notice Petition he has clearly brought
out the fact through rigorous scientific analysis that Ram Setu clearly
was built countless centuries ago and not within the last 100 years and
since it is man-made, it is entitled to be designated as an "Ancient
Monument" under Section 2(a) read with Section 4 of the or as an
"Archaeological Site" under Section 2(d) read with Section 4 of the
Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.

Further, it is also relevant to point out that the Gulf of Mannar region
is known to be, essentially, a sedimentation sink; and there is ample
evidence pointing to the fact that the tsunami has altered the bathymetry
of the region. The sea bed has risen in height in most places, on account
of deposit of silt etc. carried by the tsunami and deposited in these
areas. None of these factors have ever been taken into account by any of
the expert bodies/authorities who played a key role in giving their final
clearance for the Setusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP).

The NEERI study was defective and lopsided because it made no attempt to
make it a comprehensive inter-disciplinary study by enlisting the services
of specialists from earth sciences such as geo-morphologists,
sedimentologists, mineralogists, oceanographers, climatologists, etc.,
whose presence was a vital pre-condition for doing a proper analysis.

Finally no self respecting Hindu can miss the fact that Dandi Swami Sri
Vidyananda Bharati"s Demand Notice Petition is marked by The Art of Power,
Thought and Dream. His heroic message to all the Hindus of India and the
world today is this "All that I have seen teaches me to trust the CREATOR
for all I have not seen. Believing is a daring adventure into the unseen;
it is a radiant faith in the unexplored, the undiscovered, the miracles of
the future. There is magic in the art of believing!! Believe in the
limitless flow of God"s goodness and grace. The Universe is filled with
more wonders than you can ever imagine. Unite and fight for your religious
rights!! You have nothing to lose but your chains!! You are divinely
appointed guardians of all the powers man has evolved since time began. It
is your duty to use these powers for the continued growth and development
of all the Hindus as a race and to pass them on renewed and enlarged to
those who will follow you".

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